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Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 3 March 2004
LEADER OF THE HOUSE
Parliamentary Questions
Norman Baker: To ask the Leader of the House how many Parliamentary Questions have been tabled to him since 1 January 2003, broken down by (a) Ordinary Written and (b) Named Day; what percentage in respect of (a) were answered within 10 working days; and what percentage in respect of (b) were answered by the specified date. [157743]
Mr. Hain: Ministers have an obligation to Parliament to ensure that Members receive a substantive response to their Named Day question on the named day and to endeavour to answer an Ordinary Written question within a working week of it being tabled. Ministers and their Departments should make every effort to ensure that the live load of questions still awaiting a substantive reply should be kept to a minimum at all times.
From 1 January 2003 to Friday 27 February 2004:
- 102 Ordinary Written Questions were tabled, of which 100 per cent. were answered within 10 working days.
- 49 Named Day Questions were tabled, of which 96 per cent. were answered by the specified date.
TREASURY
Child Benefit
Mr. Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost to his Department of administering Child Benefit was (a) in total and (b) per claimant in the last year for which figures are available. [158077]
Dawn Primarolo: Child Benefit is administered by the Child Benefit Office which only became a part of the Inland Revenue on 1 April 2003 so figures for a full year are not available.
Contraband/Counterfeit Goods (Northern Ireland)
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the (a) quantity and (b) monetary value of (i) illegal fuel, (ii) cigarettes and (iii) counterfeit goods seized over the last year in Northern Ireland. [157390]
John Healey: The latest published seizure figures for illegal fuel in Northern Ireland are contained in HM Customs and Excise Annual Report 2002–03 (HC 52) and for other commodities in the Northern Ireland Organised Crime Task Force, Strategic Response 2002–03, which is available from their website at www.octf.gov.uk.
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National Statistics
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the level of real personal disposable income was in each year since 1980; and what the percentage change was in each year compared with the previous year. [157407]
Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr. Meacher, dated 3 March 2004:
- The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question on the level of real personal disposable income. I am replying in his absence. (157407)
- The information available is shown in the table. The data are presented as annual values for 1980 to 2002. Annual data for 2003 are not published until 26 March 2004.
- The households' series used for these data are for the combined household and non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH) sectors. The accounts for the household and NPISH sectors are currently combined: separate estimates are not available.
| Real households' disposable income (£ billion)(1) | Percentage change, year-on-year | |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 372 | 1.7 |
| 1981 | 371 | -0.5 |
| 1982 | 369 | -0.3 |
| 1983 | 377 | 2.0 |
| 1984 | 391 | 3.7 |
| 1985 | 404 | 3.4 |
| 1986 | 421 | 4.1 |
| 1987 | 436 | 3.7 |
| 1988 | 460 | 5.5 |
| 1989 | 482 | 4.7 |
| 1990 | 499 | 3.5 |
| 1991 | 509 | 2.0 |
| 1992 | 523 | 2.8 |
| 1993 | 537 | 2.8 |
| 1994 | 545 | 1.5 |
| 1995 | 558 | 2.3 |
| 1996 | 571 | 2.4 |
| 1997 | 595 | 4.1 |
| 1998 | 597 | 0.3 |
| 1999 | 616 | 3.3 |
| 2000 | 655 | 6.2 |
| 2001 | 685 | 4.7 |
| 2002 | 696 | 1.6 |
(1) Chained volume measures, with reference year 2000.
Source:
UK National Accounts (ONS).
Independent Brewers
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent meetings he has had with representatives of independent brewers. [157688]
John Healey: Treasury Ministers and officials hold meetings on a regular basis with a wide range of representative bodies. I met the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) on 6 February 2004 and discussions have been held with SIBA on the Customs and Excise document "Small Breweries' Relief: A Call for Evidence" published on 29 July 2003.
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Occupational Physiotherapy
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to address the different tax treatment of in-house occupational physiotherapy and a contracted service. [157853]
Ruth Kelly: The Government keeps all taxes under review and any changes will be considered as part of the normal Budget process. There is currently no specific employment benefit tax relief for the cost of private health care; employees will generally be chargeable on the cost of this treatment, whether provided directly by the employer or via payment to a health provider.
Treatment provided by physiotherapists that are registered with the Health Professionals Council is exempt from VAT, whether provided in-house or purchased on a contract basis. This service remains free to patients when provided on the NHS.
Office of Government Commerce
Ms Walley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what annual records are kept on Government Department purchases from portfolio contract holders by the Office of Government Commerce; and if he will make a statement. [158097]
Mr. Boateng: Portfolio contract holders are required to submit to OGCbuying.solutions on a quarterly basis the total value of contract sales arising from purchases made by Central Government, the Ministry of Defence, HM Prison Service and the National Health Service.
This information relates to sales totals only, and the OGCbuying.solutions does not receive or keep records of individual purchasing transactions.
Parliamentary Questions
Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many parliamentary questions have been tabled to his Department since 1 January 2003, broken down by (a) ordinary written and (b) named day; what percentage in respect of (a) were answered within 10 working days and what percentage in respect of (b) were answered by the specified date. [157739]
John Healey: 84.4 per cent. of the 3,489 ordinary written questions tabled to the Chancellor of the Exchequer between January 2003 and February 2004 were answered substantively within 10 working days; and in the same period, 70.2 per cent. of the 544 named day questions were answered on the nominated day.
PFI/PPP Contracts
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) public finance initiative and (b) public private partnership contracts have been signed for Lancashire projects in each of the last three years, broken down by (a) contract amount and (b) project. [157693]
Mr. Boateng: Information on signed private finance initiative projects is submitted to the Treasury by departments. A spreadsheet of these data, which were last submitted in July 2003, is available from the HM Treasury website at: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/documents/public private partnerships/ppp pfi stats.cfm
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The spreadsheet can be searched by date of signature, capital value and region.
Small Business Taxation
Mr. Pickthall: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with representatives of small and medium enterprises on changes to the taxation of small businesses. [157849]
Dawn Primarolo: Treasury Ministers meet regularly with business leaders and others to discuss a wide range of subjects, including the taxation of small business, and to consider the role the Government can continue to play in fostering enterprise, improving productivity and ensuring a competitive economy.
Stamp Duty
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost to public funds would be of making 2 per cent. the highest rate of stamp duty levied above existing thresholds. [157570]
Ruth Kelly: The revenue cost of restructuring stamp duty on property transactions according to the scheme described, which applies a 1 per cent. rate on transactions values above £60,000 and a 2 per cent. rate above £250,000, is estimated to be £1.8 billion in 2004–05. This does not include any allowance for behavioural changes.
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